10 Rails Routing Best Practices

Rails routing is one of the most important components of a Rails application. It is the foundation of the application and is responsible for handling requests, mapping URLs to controllers, and generating paths and URLs.

Rails routing is a complex topic and there are many best practices that should be followed to ensure that your application is secure, efficient, and easy to maintain. In this article, we will discuss 10 of the most important Rails routing best practices. We will discuss how to properly structure your routes, how to use namespaces, and how to use constraints. We will also discuss how to use redirects, how to use dynamic segments, and how to use route globbing.

1. Use the “resources” keyword in routes

The “resources” keyword is a shortcut for creating multiple routes in one line of code. It creates seven different routes that correspond to the typical RESTful actions of an application, such as index, show, new, create, edit, update and destroy. This allows developers to quickly set up all the necessary routes for their application without having to manually define each route individually. Additionally, using the “resources” keyword helps keep your routes organized and makes it easier to maintain them over time. To use the “resources” keyword, simply add it to the routes file with the name of the resource you want to generate routes for. For example, if you wanted to generate routes for a “posts” resource, you would write: resources :posts.

2. Prefer shallow routing when nesting resources

Shallow routing reduces the complexity of your routes and makes them easier to read, maintain, and debug. It also helps keep controllers slim by avoiding deeply nested resources. To use shallow routing, you need to specify a shallow option in the route definition for each resource that is nested more than one level deep. This will create separate routes for each level of nesting instead of combining all levels into one route. For example, if you have a Posts resource nested within a Users resource, you would define the routes like this:

resources :users do
resources :posts, shallow: true
end

This will generate two sets of routes – one set for users and another set for posts. The post routes will not include the user_id parameter, which means they can be accessed without having to pass through the parent resource. This keeps the controller code simpler and allows for better separation of concerns.

3. Separate API and web routes into different files

Separating API and web routes into different files helps to keep the codebase organized, making it easier for developers to find what they are looking for. It also makes it easier to maintain the codebase since changes can be made in one file without affecting the other. Additionally, this separation allows for better performance as only the necessary routes will be loaded when a request is made.

To separate API and web routes into different files, create two new files in the config/routes directory: api.rb and web.rb. In each of these files, define the routes that correspond to either an API or web request. For example, in the api.rb file, you would include all routes related to API requests such as GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc. Similarly, in the web.rb file, you would include all routes related to web requests such as HTML pages, redirects, etc. Finally, add the following line to your config/routes.rb file to load both files:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
mount API => ‘/’
mount Web => ‘/’
end

4. Be aware of route precedence rules

Route precedence rules determine which route is used when multiple routes match a given request. The order of precedence is determined by the order in which routes are defined, with earlier-defined routes having higher precedence than later-defined ones. This means that if two routes match a given request, the one defined first will be used. It’s important to understand this rule because it can lead to unexpected behavior and bugs if not taken into account. To ensure that your application behaves as expected, you should always define routes in the order of highest to lowest priority. Additionally, you should use named routes whenever possible so that changes to the order of routes don’t affect the functionality of your application.

5. Use namespaces to organize your routes

Namespaces allow you to group related routes together, making it easier to manage and maintain your application. This is especially useful when dealing with large applications that have many different types of resources. By using namespaces, you can easily organize the routes into logical groups, such as admin, api, or public.

Using namespaces also allows you to create more concise route definitions. Instead of having to specify a full path for each route, you can use the namespace to define the base path for all routes within that namespace. For example, if you had an Admin namespace, you could define all routes within that namespace as “/admin/*” instead of having to specify the full path for each route.

Additionally, namespaces provide a way to version your API endpoints. If you need to make changes to an existing endpoint, you can simply add a new versioned namespace and move the old endpoint there. This makes it easy to keep track of which versions are active and which ones are deprecated.

6. Minimize use of dynamic segments

Dynamic segments are defined as any part of a URL that can change, such as an ID or a username. These dynamic segments should be avoided when possible because they make the routing process more complex and difficult to maintain.

Dynamic segments also increase the risk of security vulnerabilities since they allow for user input in the URL. This means that malicious users could potentially manipulate the URL to gain access to sensitive data or perform other unauthorized actions.

To minimize the use of dynamic segments, it is best practice to use static routes whenever possible. Static routes are URLs with no variables or parameters, which makes them easier to read and understand. Additionally, static routes are much faster than dynamic ones since there is no need to parse the URL for variable values. Finally, static routes are less prone to errors since they do not require any additional processing.

7. Utilize constraints to restrict parameters

Using constraints to restrict parameters is a good idea because it allows you to specify which parameters are allowed in the URL. This helps ensure that only valid requests are processed, and prevents malicious users from sending invalid or unexpected requests. It also makes your routes more secure by preventing attackers from exploiting any potential vulnerabilities.

To use constraints to restrict parameters, you can add them as an option when defining your route. For example, if you wanted to limit a parameter to only accept certain values, you could do so like this:

get ‘/users/:id’, to: ‘users#show’, constraints: { id: /\d+/ }

This would allow only numeric values for the :id parameter. You can also use regular expressions to define more complex constraints.

8. Make use of custom constraints for more complex validations

Custom constraints allow developers to specify a custom regular expression (regex) that will be used to match the incoming request. This is especially useful when dealing with more complex validations, such as ensuring that an ID parameter is of a certain format or length. By using custom constraints, developers can ensure that only requests that meet their specific criteria are allowed through. Additionally, custom constraints provide a way for developers to easily add additional validation logic without having to modify existing routes. For example, if a developer wanted to add an extra check on an ID parameter, they could simply add a new constraint to the route and it would automatically apply to all requests. Finally, custom constraints make it easier to maintain code since any changes made to the regex will be applied across all routes.

9. Leverage the “on” option for specifying multiple actions per route

The “on” option allows you to specify multiple actions for a single route. This is useful when you want to perform the same action on different types of requests, such as GET and POST. For example, if you have an endpoint that handles both creating and updating records, you can use the “on” option to define separate routes for each action.

Using the “on” option also helps keep your code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself). Instead of having to write out two separate routes for each action, you can just use one route with the “on” option. This makes it easier to maintain and update your code in the future.

10. Take advantage of Rack::Mount for handling complex URL patterns

Rack::Mount is a powerful and flexible routing engine that allows developers to create complex URL patterns. It provides an easy-to-use API for defining routes, which can be used in conjunction with Rails Routing. This makes it possible to define custom routes that are not supported by the default Rails router. For example, Rack::Mount can be used to define routes based on HTTP methods, query parameters, or even regular expressions.

Using Rack::Mount also helps keep your application’s codebase clean and organized. By using Rack::Mount, you can separate out different types of routes into their own files, making them easier to maintain and debug. Additionally, since Rack::Mount is built on top of Rack, it integrates seamlessly with other middleware components such as authentication systems.